Distribution of Pern Is and Pearl-slielL 89 



tingent of divers employed for the pearl and chank 

 fisheries of the gulf of Manaar. 



In the first century A.U. Argalus, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Korkai, appears to have been a station where 

 the Gulf of Manaar pearls were perforated. Here also 

 were to be purchased fine muslins sprinkled with pearls."" 



According to Kunz and Stevenson {pp. cit., p. 131), 

 two other species of pearl-producing moUusks are collected 

 in the Madras Presidency. One of these is a species of 

 mussel, bright green in colour, known as Mytihis stiiarag- 

 dinns, collected from the estuary of the Sonnapore River, 

 near Berhampore. Small pearls of inferior quality are 

 found therein, and are sold chiefly for chunam'"^ and for 

 placing in the mouths of deceased Hindus. The other 

 species is \h& Placnna placenta — the so-called " window- 

 glass " shell— which is abundant from Karachi, near the 

 Baluchistan border, to the Kanara district south of Bom- 

 bay. It is found also in Pulicat Lake, and in the vicinity 

 of Tuticorin. Where it occurs in any abundance it is 

 collected for the sake of the small pearls found therein. 

 These pearls are highly valued by the Hindus, in calcined 

 or powdered form, for medicinal purposes, and especially 

 for mixing with the betel-nut ; they are also in consider- 

 able demand for placing in the mouths of deceased Hindus 

 of the middle class, instead of the sea pearls which are 

 used by the wealthy, or the rice employed in a similar 

 manner by persons of poorer rank. The practice of 

 placing pearls in the mouth of the dead is an old one 

 in India an-d was noted by Marco Polo more than 600 

 years ago."- As we shall see later on in this chapter, 



"" Mncent, "The Commerce and Navigalion of the Ancients in the 

 Indian Ocean," London, 1807, vol. ii., p. 5[g. 



" Chunam : lime prepared from burnt .shells, etc. , used for building 

 purp,oses, and by natives for mixing with betel for chewing. 



''- Kunz and Stevenson, op. cit., p. 310. 



